The words Arabian and Barbary in a geographic sense once covered a tremendously large territory, for Barbary in ancient times included much of the Middle East from Turkey through Syria, Iraq,and Iran, south to Arabia. It was a general designation that also took in the desert and semi-desert of the entire penninsula now known as Saudi Arabia which stretches from the Red Sea to the Persian Gulf. But Barbary and the Barbary Coast didn't stop there. It took in Egypt and much of the North African coast as well. The two kinds of horses that came from this extensive domain are known historically as the Barb and the Arabian. Both animals belong to what is now generally known as the Arabian.
Pursuing the history of the Arabian horse leads the researcher into mythology, legend, and---undercoating both of those enticements----facts. One day in the time of Ibrahim (Abraham of the Jews and Christians), an era which has been estimated to be 2,000 years before Christ, Ibrahim's son, who was called Ishmael, was hunting. Within easy arrow shot, a graceful animal which he thought to be an unusual type of antelope, appeared. Legend relates that the angel Janail (Gabriel) stopped him, saying he should spare the life of this elegant creature, which would become a great treasure and was indeed a gift from Allah to the Arabic people whom Ishmael would father. Ishmael spared the wild mare and captured her. He called her Kuhaylah, which in Arabic means painted antelope. When the mare foaled, the newborn was placed in a saddlebag to be carried on a camel's back as the nomadic tribe moved across the desert. While the camel was jogging, the colt's spine was twisted. When the youngster was removed from the saddlebag, Ishmael saw how hunched it's back was and considered destroying the colt. But the angel again stayed his arm. The ancient legend says this is why Arabians have fewer vertebrae in their spines and tails than do other horses. When Ishmael's colt matured, it was bred back to its mother, and many Arab peoples still believe that from this legendary and incestuous union all Arabian horses have descended. Although the legend lacks scientific foundation, two facts imerge. Wild horses were probably found in the lower Mesopotamian Valley between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, the traditional home of Ishmael and Ibrahim, 4,000 years ago. Many Arabians have fewer vertebrae than other horses. From these desert horses came the Spanish horses transported to Europe when the Arabs invaded Iberia. They eventually found their way into Northern Europe. As early as the 11th century, William the Conqueror is known to have ridden a Spanish horse. Even before him, Ethelstan, the Saxon king who united England between 924 and 939, is known to have imported horses from Southern Europe.
In 1494, Columbus selected breeding stock which landed on the island of Santo Domingo which started the earliest breeding farm in the New World, yet none of the blood of this early stock flows in the veins of today's Western Arabians. Indians stole some, some escaped to turn wild, some became the ancestors of the mustang.
There is reason to believe that the first pure-blooded Arabian to arrive in the U.S. came into this country in 1765. His name was *Ranger, also known as *Lindsay's Arabian. He stood at stud in Connecticut until Commander George Washington sent Harry Lee (father of Robert E. Lee) to purchase the horse for 125 hogsheads of tobacco, which would have been worth some $3,000 in cash. He moved to Lindsay's Mill in Virginia where he stood in 1779 & 1780. He sired Washington's stallion Magnolio, foaled in June, 1780. No Arabian mares were imported, so he couldn't sire a pure line.
Randolph Huntington imported a pure-blooded mare called *Naomi, form England to breed to General Grant's stallion, *Leopard (given to him by Sultan Abdul Hamid II of Turkey). Their only offspring was a chestnut stallion named Anazeh. He was bred back to his mother, and with her and other mares, Anazeh sired several pure Arabian foals. The founding stallion therefore, and the 1st Arabian later registered with the Arabian Horse Club of America, was General Grant's stallion *Leopard. The founding mare was *Naomi, a direct descendent of two desert-bred Arabians.
Homer Davenport imported from the desert, 27 stallions and mares to the U.S. in 1906. Other Davenport imports came from the Crabbet Stud in England. Davenport must be considered an Eastern Breeder. W.K. Kellogg the first large Arabian ranch in the west. In 1925, 801 acres were acquired in Poman CA. The Kellogg Ranch is now a division of the California State Polytechnic College.
In 1943, at the Janow Stud Farm in Poland, Germans attacked from the west, Russians from the east. Prized Arabian stallions and mares were evacuated. The Germans invaded, gathered all purebred stallions and mares they could find, and continued breeding operations, utilizing the Polish people. The Germans then selected the best horses and sent them to a stud farm in Hostau, Czechoslovakia. Toward the end of the war, the Russians were attacking from the east, and Americans led by Patton, from the west. The Germans, caught in the middle, contacted the Americans to save the horses from being eaten by the Russians. Patton, who'd been a calvaryman most of his life, rescued them and transferred them first to Northern Bavaria, then to Mosback, to the coast by land, and by ship to the U.S. and safety. *Witez II and 18 other purebreds were also rescued to the U.S. from the dinner table. 63 Thoroughbreds were with them. Nine Lippizaners were also rescued to the U.S. from Czecholslovakia.
*Witez II and the other Arabians were sent to Kellogg which became the most important Arabian breeding center in the country. *Witez II added new blood to Arabian lines througout the U.S. His grandfather Kuhailan-Haifi had been brought from Arabia to Poland by Prince Roman Sanguskco.The Arabian breeding operation was transferred to the Dept. of Agriculture which decided to close the ranch and auction off the horses. Important figures, one of which was Richard M. Nixon, then a representative to Washington from California, protested the sale. Two senators, the mayor of Pomona, and W.K. Kellogg added protests to President Truman, along with hundreds of letters from citizens. Before the plan had been stopped, *Witez II had been sent to Fort Reno, OK for sale at public auction. The man who was later to become president of the newly organized IAHA, E.E. Hurlbutt, acted immediately by boarding a plane and arriving just in time to purchase *Witez II for $8,100. In 1964, *Witez II was singlely honored when Poland issued a postage stamp of him. In 1965 *Witez II died at Mr. Hurlbutt's estate in San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. He was 27 and still sireing potential champions.
On September 2,1908, at the Hotel Belmont in New York City, the Arabian Horse Club of Ameica was founded. At the end of the club's first year the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture , which recognizes only one registry for each breed, approved the Arabian Registry's stud book. In the beginning only 71 purebreds were registered, with only 12 club members. By 1969 there were 52,162 registered horses, 16,500 owners and 4,500 members. Each year the number of registered horses increases approximatley 15%.
Registration of purebred Arabians is strictly governed by the Arabian Horse Club Registry of America. Generally speaking the organization automatically accepts any foal born in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico if sire and dam are listed with it. If born in Mexico, the foal, sire, and dam are also registered with the Mexico Jockey Club. A horse may be registered if while in the same foreign registry-- and if the dam is registered in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico. Also, an unbroken pedigree of both the bloodlines must trace back to the Arabian desert countries or to a studbook appoved by the registry.
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When I bestride him I soar, I am a hawk. He trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes."
From Henry V. William Shakespeare 1600
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"Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed man. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword." ----book of Job
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"Thou shalt be a source of happiness and wealth for man..."-----the prophet Mohammed
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"Horse and rider are one being, the will of man and the body of the animal; thus they burst through all deeds and decisions that lie ahead. From this unity grew all nobility and chivalry; grew the tender understanding for the creature which the rough fist can never spur on to great achievements; grew the fearlessness which is transferred from the rider to the horse, and the delight in being able to gallop away into the distance and swiftly overcome the obstacles encountered." ---Professor Richard Gerlach
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"When God created the horse, he spoke to the magnificent creature: I have made thee without equal. All the treasures of this earth lie between thy eyes."----- Koran
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Allah said to the South Wind: "Become solid flesh, for I will make a new creature of thee, to the honor of My Holy One, and the abasement of Mine enemies, and for a servant to them that are subject to Me." And the South Wind said: "Lord, do Thou so." Then Allah took a handful of the South Wind and he breathed thereon, creating the horse and saying: "Thy name shall be Arabian, and virtue bound into the hair of thy forelock, and plunder on thy back. I have preferred thee above all beasts of burden, inasmuch as I have made thy master thy friend. I have given thee the power of flight without wings, be it in onslaught or in retreat, I will set men on thy back, that shall honor and praise Me and sing Hallelujah to My name." ---Bedouin Legend